A Way of Life
by Lord Rathan
Summary: Four people will be forced into a new world. How will they cope with the vast differences? What will they decide to do? It is up to you if you want to find out or not. T for violence, Altoshipping in future.
1. Chapter 1

It started with a revelation. Something ordinary that became extraordinary. Somehow, that is how every story will begin. It can be an object, a thought, even a location.

More rarely, it can be a person.

And that is how this story begins. I wondered sometimes if I was just a bystander in this story… an observer. But he tells me I am not. He tells me I was something more… a catalyst. And… a reason for him to do what he did. A reason for him to survive.

A reason for him to fight.

Let me explain. My name is Martiah. I'm a girl, with short black hair, of fairly average height, and I am sixteen years old. I have bright blue eyes that some people find disconcerting to look into. My most distinguishing feature is probably my throat. At first glance, it looks completely normal, but when I become agitated, or excited, a small birthmark will appear. It looks like an h, and it is fairly small.

I was at school one day minding my own business…

As I opened my locker to get my books for the day, I pondered my next few lessons. Maths, English, Maths again… All we did was go round in circles. In Maths, we did equations. Quadratics, Cubics. In English we read books. I was pretty sure I knew how to read a book by now. There was nothing else I could get out of it. Surely there was something else I could learn-

But as usual my thoughts were interrupted by shouting from behind me.

"Hey, fool! Where ya going!" An older boy shouted as he rounded on someone who had obviously caused no offense.

The guy he was accosting simply stood there with his arms crossed, saying nothing.

Let me get something straight. The bully was called Donovan. He was nothing but a fat blob with an exalted opinion of himself, because his father was the duke of somewhere or other. He was blond, and he had a face, that under the right light might just be called ugly. If the person was nice.

The guy he was annoying was called Diem. He had raven black hair that went past his collar, so I couldn't tell how long it was. He was permanently slumped under his bag. I don't think I'd seen him stand up straight a single time.

Speaking of things that never happened, Diem was… odd. In the three years he'd been at our school, he'd never spoken a word. He hadn't made any enemies, but he hadn't befriended anyone either. However, he always aced every test he'd been in. It didn't matter what it was in, but he always got full marks. This made him a prime target for people like Donovan.

I sighed, thinking this would be like every other time Donovan had tried to pick on Diem. Donovan would sling a few insults, get unnerved by Diem's stoicism and run off, claimed that he wasn't worth his time.

How wrong I was.

From the word go, something was wrong about this encounter. Donovan's threats and insults were escalating, and he was actually trying to antagonise him. I tuned back in on what Donovan was saying…

"You gonna do something, fool? You gonna say something? Oh, I remember! Your mother didn't even teach you how to speak!"

Silence filled the locker area. People were staring at Donovan in shock, surprised he would go this far just to get a rise out of someone. Others looked at Diem to see if it had worked.

It had.

Diem slowly took off his bag, and for the first time in my life, I saw him standing up straight, tall and proud. I swear, I heard his back cracking and he assumed a different position. Then something happened that surprised _everyone_. A voice, powerful, commanding, rolled across the room.

"My mother is dead."

Ouch. Touchy subject. Well, anyone with at least a shred of intelligence would know to stay away from the subject. Diem had turned around to pick up his bag and leave, obviously expecting Donovan to do the same.

"I suppose she's servicing the devil down in hell now, then."

Diem spun around, rage filling his eyes. Donovan grinned at this, before shouting, "Hey, Jack, Grant! Teach this dumb orphan a lesson!"

_How the hell does Donovan know that Diem is an orphan!? Unless… Somehow he found out? Donovan is using this to get Diem to fight for some reason!_

The two boys that Donovan had summoned sneered at Diem, obviously confident in their ability to beat him. Diem didn't seem worried at all, though. One of the two flunkeys swung a fist at Diem, who simply tilted his head and let the fist fly past him.

The other idiot growled and swung his fist at Diem's face. He promptly intercepted the fist with his left hand and brought his right hand along so that the heel of his hand slammed into the guy's elbow. We all heard a crack as his arm twisted a way that it was never supposed to. Diem simply punched the other guy in the head once with a final right hook, putting him out of the fight. Everyone was staring now. In less than ten seconds, Diem had knocked one guy out and left the other one screaming on the floor. It was a miracle that no teachers were around, or all hell would have broken loose, with everyone trying to get away.

Now that Diem had dealt with the two flunkeys, he once again rounded his glare on Donovan, who was staring at him with an expression of acute terror on his face. His mouth was opening and shutting like a fish. I took a few moments to memorize his expression, storing it as a memory to treasure. No one liked Donovan. No one would stick up for him. Even the two flunkeys had probably been paid to do a job.

Diem had reached the terrified bully, and instead of taking him down like he did with the other two, he gave him two open-handed slaps to the face. He picked up the collapsed kid by his collar and the seat of his pants, and carried him over to the nearest lockers, which just happened to be right next to me. He made to smash his head into the lockers, but stopped at the last moment. He turned towards me.

"Excuse me. Do you know which locker is his?" Diem asked me, quietly.

"Its… number thirty-seven…" I mumbled.

"Thank you." He replied. He seemed strangely calm considering all the violence that had just occurred.

He walked over to the nearby locker, before hefting the bully one last time. I watched, astonished, as he slowly swung him back and forth, before smashing his head through the locker door. He left him there, his head now stuck in the hole he had created.

Diem walked slowly over to the one flunkey who was still conscious, and had now managed to stop blubbering with the pain of his arm. I saw him bend down, and whisper something into his ear. The kid's eyes widened and he started nodding frantically. Diem wrenched the kids arm, as he pulled him up from the floor. The kid shouted, then looked at his arm, astonished.

"I… I thought you broke my arm…" He stuttered. Diem shook his head.

"It was only dislocated. Give yourself a couple days and you'll be back to normal."

The kid looked up at Diem briefly, fear, awe and respect fighting a battle in his eyes, before he quickly ran away. Diem also left, after picking up his bag. The room was silent for a few seconds after his departure, before everyone quickly erupted in a frenzied chatter about what they had seen.

"Whoa, Marty, did you see that?" Sarah, one of my friends, exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. Sarah always calls me Marty, no matter how much I ask her not to.

"Yes, I did. I was standing here all along, you know."

"I know, but… Wow! Just… Wow! The way he took down those goons! And you have to admit, he looked kinda hot when he was all angry like that." Sarah was staring into space slightly, obviously imagining… _something_ involving her and the new side of Diem we had just seen. I shuddered, slightly.

"Sarah, if we have to get him as angry as that to make him stand up straight and look awesomely hot again, I'm going to have to pass on that."

Sarah giggled, before speaking quietly to me. "Oh, so you think he's "awesomely hot" do you? Sounds like someone had a few ideas of their own." I blushed furiously, wishing I hadn't spoken.

"I… I…" My words trailed off as I tried to deny this. Eventually, I just sighed.

"Sarah, you have no shame, do you?"

Sarah giggled again, before walking away to our next lesson. I could only follow her.

The rest of the day proceeded much in this manner. Sarah kept relating everything I said back to my little comment about a guy I'd never even spoken to properly. When Sarah sank her teeth into something, she really didn't know how to let go. When a guy told me he had a crush on me once, she kept talking about it for a month.

Eventually, the end of school came, and I was ready to walk home again. The school I went to was at the edge of town. I lived in a village about five miles away. There were roads connecting the two places, but I always preferred to walk through the forests and fields in the area. I love to explore, and since this is about as far away as I can get... Not to mention that it was much more peaceful, and I needed all the peace I could get after school. I much prefer the peace of the countryside to the mind-numbingly boring slices of lessons that were supposed to be education.

Truth be told, I was one of the smarter kids in my class. And when I say that, I mean _the_ smartest. I don't like boasting, but there were times when we were introduced to new things, and I'd end up helping the teacher explain things to other students. It was… frustrating, in a way. I felt slowed down, unable to reach my full potential. It could be worse, really. I suppose that if I'd been allowed free reign in my lessons, I would have swamped myself with too many facts.

Enough about my personal problems.

The sun was shining, in that deceptive way that makes you think it should be warmer. It looked like I had at least five hours of light left, so I decided to go a different way from normal. I'd seen a small path between two trees, and I was determined to explore the area it lead to. I had to walk through a few fields to get there, before I entered a small forest. I loved this forest. There were blue and yellow flowers everywhere, covering the floor. You could always hear birdsong, as well. I liked to delay the moment when I had to go home as long as possible, for… personal reasons. The path of gravel I was walking gradually faded to dirt, and I spotted the path I had wanted to take. I was eager to map out as much of the forest in my head as I could. I walked the new path, not noticing how the path wound around corners, leaving me directionally stumped. I was much too occupied with admiring the way the sun shone through the green leaves of the forest canopy, the light seemingly shimmering on the surface of the floor, much like it would do on the surface of the water in a lake. I was so occupied in observing the sight of the light to my right that I failed to notice how the path dropped off in front of me.

I yelled out of instinct as I fell, twisting around as I tried desperately to keep my balance. Obviously, I failed miserably. All my desperate flailing did was make my fall a little more comical. Somehow, there was a ten foot drop in front of me. I only had time to think a single phrase, as I pitched over the edge, and finally smashed to the ground.

_Oh, damn._

__Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

What is it within us that gives us the strength to go on? When there is no more hope, when the caged bird cannot sing any more. Is it like the old tales say, where the opening of Pandora's Box crippled mankind… then gave us the worst curse of all? The curse of false hope?

Is there anything inside those old stories, any grains of truth contained within the rock hard allure of lies? How do you see the glass of truth through the stone of human failure? That is the secret of every story. In every one there is failure. There is destruction, there is pain.

But not mine.

I will not let the same thing happen to the story of my life. I will cut through the rock hard stone of crushing failure, fight to find truth in a cloak of lies.

You see… that is the real secret of Pandora's Box… that it never existed. Men fight men, man fights nature, man fights the very things that give him sustenance. It is all so easy to blame a higher power for our own mistakes. And therein lays our failure.

I will make my own box, fill it with my own weaknesses, and seal it away. A prison, from which they can never return. A Box of Day, containing the blackest things that afflict me… If I can never fail, then neither will my story.

I will test myself, reform myself, _and remake myself_. If I am not weak, then I am strong. And if I am strong then I will finally be worthy to spread strength, to banish failure. As for those who refuse purity, then they will feel my Diem Irae. My Day of Wrath.

Let me tell you how it began, with a girl falling from the sky…

"Ahhh!"

The cry came from ahead of me, deeper in the forest. I had no idea of its origin, but when someone screams, they need help. It might be simple, it might be complicated, but a scream was a damn scream, at the end of the day. So I sprinted ahead, and I rounded the corner just in time to see a girl, no older than I, land on her back on the ground. Her head hit a rock, and she was clearly out cold. I ran over, checking her neck before rolling her over on to my legs, to make sure that moving her would do more good than harm.

Since I knew her neck wasn't broken, I didn't have to worry about any immediate danger to her health. It looked like the rock had hit her square on the back of the head, and while she might feel pretty bad when she woke up, she'd be just fine. Then I looked at her legs. Scratch what I just said. There was a long gash along her leg, and _that_ could get seriously infected. And at that point exactly, she began to stir.

_She had to wake up now, didn't she. Just _after _I find the serious injury. I'll just have to talk her through it._

She groaned and tried to sit up. I gently pressed her back down.

"Easy… easy, there." I muttered to her.

"W-where am I?"

"_Where am I" Why do people ask where they are when they wake up? Why not ask something slightly more meaningful, like "Why the hell did I fall off a three metre cliff?"_

Of course, this was all internal.

"You're in the same place you were when you fell over. Time wise, you were out for about two or three minutes."

"How did you find me in two or three minutes?" she asked.

_Screw what I said earlier. Less intelligent questions would be great right now._

"You yelled loud enough for the whole forest to hear." I replied.

_Not quite true, but fairly accurate all the same. I wouldn't say the _whole_ forest heard. More like… the nearest fifty metres or so…_

"Oh… sorry I was suspicious of you." She looked mollified.

"It's a fair concern. You just woke up, and here I am, kneeling over you."

"Um. Yes. Would you mind helping me up?"

"Not a problem."

It was a simple request really. I was gentle, taking her shoulders and slowly lifting her to her feet. I had guessed that the dizziness from being unconscious should have worn off by now. It was a pity that I forgot about her leg. As soon as she put her weight on it, her whole leg crumpled beneath her. If I hadn't still been holding her, she would have fallen down to the ground again. This time, I carefully lowered her, so she was sitting down.

"Do you think you can walk?" I asked, but she just shook her head.

_Damn. I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this. Ah, who am I kidding? She would have found out sooner or later, if she was exploring this area._

"My house is nearby. If you want, I can take you there, to get you some medicine and things."

"Thanks." She said quietly. "I'd appreciate that." I nodded once, and I carefully reached underneath her, preparing to lift her. I-

"H-Hey! What are you doing?!" I rolled my eyes.

"What do you think? I'm going to carry you. You sure as hell can't walk with a leg like that. And don't worry. I'm not the kind of guy to hurt you." It looked like she would refuse, but eventually she nodded, giving me permission to carry her. I lifted her carefully, cradling her body in my arms. Eventually she spoke again.

"Speaking of that, who exactly are you?

I'd been walking for about two minutes, absorbed in my own thoughts. I'd tried to ignore exactly what I was doing, because I'd noticed her blushing when I first picked her up. I'd figured it would be easier for her that way.

I was drawing close to my home. I'd been dreading this moment, expecting to be peppered with questions as soon as she saw where I lived. I had wanted to hide my identity, for a reason that was proved justified this very day. But her question gave me an idea….

"Do you really want to know who I am?"

"Of course I do." She stated firmly.

I sighed loudly. "Very well, then." I was silent, waiting for the right moment as I passed through the gates to my estate.

_My estate now…_

"My name is Diem Irae, or in full, Lord Diem Irae. I am the last in my bloodline, and I both live in and own the vast forest and swathes of land around here, along with my family mansion, which contains over a hundred rooms and is currently worth about ten million pounds." My revelation had achieved the desired effect, as I looked down and saw an expression of supreme shock on her face. I allowed myself a moment of smugness, before I remembered the reason I had kept my identity a secret in the first place. I looked down again, and saw her struggling to form a word on her lips.

"_Diem?"_

"Yes. I'm sorry if that fight earlier gave you the wrong impression of me. I'm surprised you don't recognise me, to be honest."

"You aren't slouching under your bag, and you're looking me in the face for once."

"I see your point. If you have any questions, feel free to ask." I was sure she would be curious, so I braced myself for a barrage of questions.

"Why did Donovan try to attack you?" she asked, quickly.

I was… impressed. Surprised. She had actually realized there was something wrong about my last encounter with that idiot. In a flash, I remembered her. She was the one standing by the lockers, who had given me his locker number. She hadn't asked why, just told me straight out. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, being… _slightly_ concerned with something else at the moment, but I realized what happened must have been weighing on her mind for some reason.

_Maybe she was actually concerned for me?_

No, people don't just care about others like that. It must be something else.

"He thought that if he hurt me enough, I'd be forced to give him my land, title, and money. It was a stupid plan, and you and I both know it failed badly, leaving him in… a fairly bad position." She laughed gently, and I felt myself beginning to smile at the sound of it. Luckily, I had just reached… _my_… house, so I was able to distract myself. I managed to let myself in the door, although it was a struggle lifting my hand high enough to get the key into the lock, even with my height. I heard my passenger catch her breath, and again, I couldn't stop myself from smiling. The sheer opulence of the place used to affect me just as much, since I had grown unused to such things. I quickly shouted for my cousin, who lived here with me.

"Hey, LUKE?" I shouted. I heard the sound of footsteps on wooden boards. He jumped down the stairs, taking them six at a time. He always did that, for some reason. He was there fast, standing in front of us in less than half a minute. Not bad, when you consider the size of the place.

Luke was my cousin, and my best friend, as well. Not that I had that many friends, but if I did… well, you get the idea. He moved in about three years ago, after… That doesn't matter. Luke was always joking, but when something important was happening he would get serious, and show a side of him you wouldn't believe, after seeing the trickster he normally was. He was inventive, and had a cruel streak that was great for practical jokes… even if I was usually the victim, I had to admit they were pretty good. The two of us were more like brothers than cousins, his comic attitude making him great company for me. He was the same height as me, and had green eyes. Aside from his eyes, the only difference from me was that he kept his brown hair spiked up, while I just let my black hair grow.

I saw the beginnings of a grin appear on his face, as he saw me effectively bridal carrying a girl through the door. I knew he'd comment on it later. But then he saw the blood on her leg, and his serious side appeared.

"Luke, I'll need the first aid kit from the kitchen. Meet me in the second living room." He nodded and ran off immediately. It was nice to know I could trust him. I looked down again, and I saw that the girl had passed out in my arms without me noticing. I moved quickly, taking her to the aforementioned room and raising her injured leg onto a stool. Moments later, Luke arrived, passing me the kit.

I carefully cleaned out the cut with antiseptic wipes, finding to my relief that it wasn't as bad as it first looked, despite the large amounts of blood. She had probably passed out due to the shock, or something. Eventually, Luke broke the silent atmosphere.

"So how did this happen?" he asked.

"I found her in the woods. Heard her shout out, rushed to the scene, saw her fall about three metres." Luke nodded. I knew that since no one was in any danger any more, I'd soon find an innuendo headed my way.

_Three… Two-_

"So you two weren't doing anything in the woods together then?" He said, grinning at me.

"No, Luke. We weren't." I spoke as firmly as I could, hoping to show him I didn't want to continue this conversation.

"Really? Because you know you can always invite me to those kinds of things, right?" His trademark grin grew even bigger. I shuddered, trying to ignore him.

"Luke, we are literally standing over this girl right now. Can you even imagine how she would react if she heard what you were saying?"

"Heard him say _what_, exactly?" a voice asked. Luke and I froze simultaneously, slowly looking down at the now _very_ awake girl. She was looking upwards with the kind of innocent smile that came just before the screams started.

_Oh, damn._

"I… I don't think I ever got your name…" I said, desperately trying to change the subject.

"It's Martiah. Now, don't change the subject. What, _exactly_, did he say?"

Faced with an undefeatable enemy, I took the only course of action possible that could grant me even the most remote chance of survival. I ran like hell, and left Luke to suffer on his own.

"W-where the hells are you going? Why would you leave me here!?" Luke sounded desperate. I could only imagine the horrors he was about to experience. I yelled back my justification, one that would be understood by any person in a similar position.

"EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!"


	3. Chapter 3

_Well, they say honesty is the best policy… I can only hope she doesn't try to kill me..._

"I… may have made comments that insinuated you were participating in intimate actions with my friend in the forest." I figured that would lose her. Unluckily, I hadn't figured on her intelligence. Her eyes widened, and she obviously understood everything I had said. Her mouth began to open, and just as I was convinced that a tirade of insults would come pouring from her mouth…

"Wow, Luke. I didn't actually expect you to tell the truth." Day's voice came from behind me. I had no idea he'd returned.

"You didn't exactly leave me much choice, did you?" I glared at him, but it clearly had no impact on his impassive face.

"You shouldn't have spoken, Luke. Your big mouth gets us in trouble all the time. Remember those college guys?" I grinned at the memory, thinking back to a trip Day and I had taken once.

"I wouldn't call _that _little tussle trouble, Day. Thirteen against two was bad odds for them."

"Luke, we accidentally sent four of those guys to hospital. We got arrested on assault, and we only got out of it because there happened to be CCTV footage of the fight. _That_ was trouble." Day said, folding his arms in the process. "Anyway, I think she can decide what your punishment will be." I saw the eyes of the girl, who was propped up on the chair, light up. But then she gave a sigh, disappointed with something.

"I _suppose _I can let you off, because you helped me. But you two have some serious questions to answer. How the hell are thirteen to two good odds for you guys? And why the hell didn't you even speak in school for three years?" Diem took over the conversation at this point.

"I'll answer your last question first. I just… didn't want to. I didn't see the need, and I lost trust in people in general a while ago. As for your other question, after an… _incident_ in my past, Luke and I went through some serious martial arts training for about a year. We're both disciplined masters, but you wouldn't know it from looking at us." Diem hesitated for a moment, finding an issue with what he just said. "Well, you wouldn't know it from looking at him, anyway."

"I resent that remark!"

"Whatever. In any case, we kept training to keep in form. About two hours exercise a day does it." Diem finished his account, then stood up and stretched. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah." The girl said. "What kind of thing makes a guy do nothing but train for a year?" Diem sighed.

"That particular story can wait, for now." he said.

"Why? What are you afraid of?" the girl challenged. Diem grinned.

"Nothing." He said. "Absolutely nothing." Something in the way he said it made you sure that he was telling you the truth.

"So why not tell me?!" she shouted.

"Because he wouldn't tell just anyone." I said. "You'll have to earn his trust first." The girl still looked annoyed, so I decided to change the subject. "What is your name, anyway?"

"I'm Martiah."

"Well, Martiah, it looks like you'll have to spend the night here. It's pretty dark outside, and even I hesitate before walking through this forest at night." Diem said.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid of anything?" Martiah asked.

"I'm not, it just takes me a moment to recall the right track to take." he said smiling. "Your leg will feel better tomorrow, so you should get a good night of sleep." I took a moment to look outside, and I saw that the previously sunny weather had been replaced with dark and dismal clouds. Our guest looked reluctant for a few moments, her apprehension at sleeping in a strange house clear as day.

"I don't have any other choice, do I." she remarked. It was a statement of fact, not a question, but I felt the need to reply.

"Of course you have a choice." I said. She looked at me surprise evident on her face. "You can walk home now, in the dark, with an injured leg, on paths you've never even walked before. The nearest village is about three hours away. Then, there's your other option. You get to stay here, sleep in a very comfortable bed which may have massage capabilities, and then you _don't _have to walk when you go home tomorrow. Oh, by the way, did I mention that the en suite bathroom attached to your room has a Jacuzzi in it?" She looked slightly overwhelmed by the amount of luxuries I had so casually dropped, but I was fairly sure she was warming to the idea. There was a definite thoughtful look in her eyes.

"Fine, fine, I'll stay." She said.

"I thought you might." I said smugly.

"In any case, Albert will show you where you can sleep." Diem said. He walked over to the wall, and pressed a small inconspicuous button. No more than ten seconds later, the door to the room was opened by the aforementioned Albert. He was a small, wizened man with pale skin and light grey hair, wearing a traditional butler's garb. He had piercing grey eyes that made people think he was focusing on a point about six inches behind the back of their skulls. It was a stare that was hard to meet. Currently it was focusing on Diem, who _of course _met it head on.

"Albert, this is our guest, Martiah. Please show her to a comfortable guest room," The man nodded slowly, before focusing his stare on her. She tried valiantly to return it for a few seconds, but her defiance was for naught, and she lowered her head to the ground.. I couldn't blame her. When Albert was staring at you, it felt like he was trying to weld your eyeballs to the back of your skull.

"If you will follow me, young mistress?" Martiah visibly jumped, but Albert had already turned to lead her out of the room. Albert's voice was in complete contrast with his outward appearance. It was warm and welcoming. It was the kind of voice, that if it invited you to stay in a solitary cabin in the woods, would let you know that you could expect a warm bed and a hot chocolate with serious amounts of cream. Combined with the initial shock of seeing him, it almost always resulted in stutters, and a small amount of guilt.

"Thank you…" Martiah said to Albert's back. She'd managed to keep stutters out of her voice, but it had still audibly wobbled. She went to stand up, but her leg was clearly not up to it. You could tell by the way she fell straight back over onto the chair. Diem walked over to her, and pulled her up to her feet, wrapping one of her hands round his neck. Martiah looked tired, and she said nothing as he led her out of the room. Diem was focused on following Albert, but I couldn't help but think I saw the tiniest shade of red in his cheeks on the way out. Suddenly I yawned, surprising myself. I suppose that Martiah isn't the only one who was tired. I walked to my room in the huge mansion to sleep. I had to admit, I was curious about the new girl, strange as it may seem. She had a strange effect on Diem, and anyone that made him come out of his impenetrable shell was to be admired.

Martiah gave out a loud yawn, sitting up in the comfortable bed. Luke hadn't been exaggerating about the massage capabilities of the bed. She'd felt like she had been melting into the bed, in a good way. It had to be, by far the best night's sleep she had ever had.

Then she looked out of the window and saw a night sky, not the bright day she had been expecting.

"What is going on here? I was asleep for hours, at least." she muttered to herself. Looking around, she saw a button on the wall, identical to the one Diem had pressed to summon Albert before. She looked down at herself, and saw that she was still dressed in the same clothes as before. Before she had a chance to reconsider, she quickly pressed the button hoping she wasn't being too presumptuous. She waited, then twenty seconds passed and a knock came at the door. She opened it, revealing Albert standing there with an expectant look on his face.

"How may I assist you, young mistress?" he asked.

"Um… Can you take me to Diem please? I need to thank him." Martiah said with a small tremble in her voice. Albert still made her uneasy.

"I do not know the location of Master Diem, but Master Luke is with your friend in the stables. I can take you to him if you wish." Albert offered. Martiah thanked him and followed him there, all the while wondering which friend was with Luke. Eventually they arrived, and Albert opened the door for her. Martiah walked through, only to be knocked over by a blur in a green coat.

"Marty! Where were you? Are you hurt? Why did you miss school? Have you seen the horses? They're so _cute_!" It was, of course, Sarah. Martiah briefly wondered who had been stupid enough to let her near a horse, before Luke walked out, wearing an strained look on his face.

"Is she always like this?" he asked.

"Only when horses are involved." Martiah muttered.

"Yeah, Marty! You should have seen the horses! There was one called Drummer, and he had this brown coat, with this cute white mark on his nose, and…" As Sarah kept talking, Luke looked more and more horrified.

"Good god, what have I done? Does she ever stop?" he asked desperately.

"_And he kept flicking his tail whenever he saw me! It was so cute, and…"_

"Oh, she will, soon."

Luke gave a loud sigh of relief. "I was worried for a moment there."

"…_and he has the cutest neigh ever! Luke said that the saddle was…"_

"Just give her two or three hours." Luke looked horrified.

"Please, you've got to make her stop! I'll do anything!" Luke pleaded with her.

"_When I get my own horse, I'll call him Surprise, and we'll have so much fun! We'll…"_

"You can answer some questions, like how long was I asleep, and why is Sarah here in the first place?"

"You were asleep for a full twenty hours." Luke said hurriedly. "And Sarah is here because she was worried about you at school, so Diem had to reassure her. Now please, make her be quiet. I can't take this much longer!"

"Fine." Martiah sighed. She turned to Sarah, who had temporarily stopped talking to breath. "Sarah?" she asked.

"Yeah?!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Dead puppies." Sarah immediately stopped froze, and her eyes started to shimmer with tears. She sat down, and hugged her knees to her chest. "She'll be like that for five minutes, then finally she'll be normal." Martiah said. "Just don't let her near the horses again after this." Luke nodded thankfully. "Now, can you tell me where Diem is? I need to thank him for helping me, and kill him for letting me sleep for twenty hours straight."

"Day is up on the roof." Luke said. "I don't know why. Albert, can you take her up to the roof?"

"Of course, Master Luke." Albert said. He almost made Martiah jump again. She had completely forgotten he was there. "Please follow me, Mistress Martiah." Albert turned and walked away, and she quickly followed, leaving Luke alone with a now sobbing Sarah. Albert led her carefully through the twists and turns of the house, going up two tall flights of elaborate stairs, before eventually, after a final turn, she found Albert standing in front of a small door. "There is one final staircase through here, Mistress. The door to the roof is at the top, and it will be unlocked."

"Thank you, Albert." Martiah said. The man bowed, and walked away. Martiah carefully ascended the last set of stairs, and found a wooden door with a simple keyhole in it. True to Albert's word, the door was unlocked, and it swung open easily without a creak, revealing the roof of the mansion.

Martiah saw a large flat open area, covered with gravel. There was what looked like some kind of chimney, with a large square base of bricks a few metres across, but what would be the spout was disconnected, and she could see hinges at the base of it. Diem was standing with his back to this, looking up at the stars. He glanced round at her as she walked close to him, before returning his gaze to the sky.

"What are you doing?" Martiah asked out of curiosity.

"I am reminding myself." He said vaugely.

"Reminding yourself of what?" Martiah asked, this time with a slight edge to her voice.

"Reminding myself of how small I am, compared to everything around me." He said, turning his full attention to her.

"Why do you need to do that? You're one of the most humble people I've met."

"And I want to stay that way. I don't want to become just another Donovan who thinks that because he has money, he's better than people who don't." There was a fire in his eyes as he spoke, and it was obvious to Martiah that he felt strongly about what he said. "You know, I wish I wasn't born with all that I have." Martiah looked surprised.

"How can you say that? She asked. "You can live a really comfortable life because of your inheritance."

"Because I don't know if I deserve it!" he snapped. He sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. It wasn't fair." He sighed again. "I just can't help feeling that if it wasn't for blind luck, I wouldn't be in the position I am now."

"Is this related to that incident in your past?" Martiah asked. Diem's face fell.

"You still want to know?" he asked.

"I…" Martiah struggled to find the right words for a moment. "I don't want to know if you don't want to tell me." Diem sighed.

"No, I…" He stopped for a moment. "I should tell someone, at least. Luke, Albert, and a few others are the only ones who know." He sat down, leaning against the pillar of bricks. "You might want to sit down. This could take awhile." She sat, leaning against the same pillar as Diem, but keeping some space between them. She shifted to try and get as comfortable as she could on the cold gravel.

"It begins… when my parents died." He said. This was clearly the hardest part of the story for him. "I was nine years old. They died in a car crash. Nothing… suspicious, or odd about it. It was a rainy night and the car went off the road and hit a tree." He looked grim, for a moment. "I was vulnerable. It took a month before I came to terms with it. Then the funeral came." He paused for a moment. "Do you see that tower over there?" he asked suddenly, out of the blue. The tower in question was twice as tall as the rest of the mansion, and aside for a single glassless window at the top, it was completely bare.

"Yes, I do. Why?" she asked.

"Just remember it, for now. So, the funeral. It was there that everything started to go wrong, but I at least met Luke there. He was the only one who was sympathetic to me. Everyone else was just there for a public appearance." He snorted loudly. "Some family. I found out that my parent's will had been read almost as soon as they died. I inherited the whole fortune, and it was sealed away in private bank accounts. But an aunt and uncle I'd never heard of were granted custody of me. I left the funeral with them. They took me back to the family home, which I'd avoided the whole time, staying in other houses my family owns." He glanced at her, peeling his eyes off the horizon for a moment. "I asked you to remember that tower." He said, in a low voice.

"Yeah, why was that?" Martiah asked.

"That tower had been constructed in the month I was away from the house." He said grimly. "And the top room was where I spent the next two years of my life, fed on only bread and water, all on the will of two people I didn't even know, because they were jealous of me and wanted the money left to me by my parents." Martiah was stunned, and rightly so.

"You were trapped there for _two years?_" she asked incredulously. Diem nodded, staring at his old prison. "So then what happened?"

"It took two years before I ran out of hope." He said.

"What did you do?" Diem smiled, for the first time since she'd seen him up on the roof.

"I made my own hope." He said grinning. "I escaped, by taking apart my mattress, and using the materials to make a rope which I tied to the bed frame and used to climb down. It makes me glad my mother taught me how to sew when I was young."

"Wow." was all Martiah could say, before she recovered. "So then what? You got your aunt and uncle sent to prison I guess." Diem nodded.

"That's right. I remembered Luke, and called him up. His family took me in for a month, during which my father's old personal army of lawyers were gathering evidence against my aunt and uncle. Eventually they ended up in prison and Luke and I moved in here." He stood up and brushed some dirt off his clothes, leading Martiah to do the same. "I think you know the rest."

"Yeah." She whispered. "Diem?"

"Call me Day." He said, without looking at her. "I owe you that, for listening to me the whole time."

"Day, then." She said quietly. "I need to thank you. For helping me." He turned to her, looking surprised.

"I only did what any decent person would do. You… You shouldn't need to thank me for that."

"That might be true, but how many of the people from our school would have done the same thing?" Diem opened his mouth to answer, before thinking for a moment, tilting his head into the air and realizing the obvious answer.

"Not that many." He admitted. "I hate the truth of that though." Suddenly he smiled gently, and Martiah caught a glimpse of his true self sparkling in his eyes, as he acknowledged the humour in his statement. She couldn't help but smile back at him, looking directly into the depths of his blue eyes, for the first time seeing the strength of the care that he held for life itself. For a moment, the two of them were just smiling, accepting the moment as it passed.

Of course, the universe rarely tolerates such tender moments for any extended period of time.

This time, there were three different things competing with each other to interrupt. One was Luke, who was even now on his way up to the roof with Sarah, preparing a comment about the two spending personal time together. He was, in fact, on the final flight of stairs up to the roof. The second was a small pigeon getting ready to… _relieve himself_ as he flew past the house, so that what he unburdened himself of would not be _droppings_ so much as _projectiles_, with a very fine degree of accuracy.

But the third competitor was by far the winner. A being from _another_ universe chose that very moment to open up a portal between the two universes, directly in front of the two on the roof. There was a vast explosion of light as it opened, and Diem and Martiah simultaneously yelled once before being stunned into silence.

Through the portal, they could see, in a birds eye view, a small clearing, covered in grass. There was a river bubbling over some rocks. Yellow and white flowers were visible at fairly regular intervals. The whole area was surrounded with various trees, with trunks about a foot wide, but their branches spread out over a much larger area, and leaves covering almost the whole of the forest. The sun was shining brightly on the area.

"Hey guys! What cha'…" Luke froze into silence, just like the other two on the roof. Sarah never even said a word, being too busy staring at the strange scene being projected into the night sky. The four of them simply stared for about a minute or so, before Luke managed to recover enough to ask a question. "Okay… Who in hell just broke physics?" he asked. Nobody could answer.

Another minute passed.

"You know, there's something odd about this." Diem managed to say. The other three on the roof stared at him, before simultaneously stating: "No shit, Sherlock."

"I don't mean the fact that we're looking at a bloody gigantic physical impossibility in front of us. I mean the fact we're looking down on it."

"_So?_" Martiah asked. "I don't see how that matters at the moment."

"To answer your question, where the hell has gravity gone?" he stated.

The universe finally caught on.

The massive pull that all four people on the roof experienced almost yanked all of them off the roof. Martiah and Sarah were both immediately pulled into the strange portal. There seemed to be a massive amount of air being pulled in as well. Luke and Diem both reacted fast enough to twist round and grab hold of the roof with one hand. However Luke only managed to get the edges of his fingertips on the roof, and he was quickly pulled in as well.

Not quick enough that he didn't manage to yell "YOU BASTARD!" to Diem on the way, though.

Diem himself had a whole hand on the roof, but the combined gravity of the Earth and whatever was through the portal was slowly overcoming even his fairly considerable strength. Diem knew that even if he got his other hand on the edge, there was no way he could pull himself up. He resigned himself that he was going to lose his grip soon, but then an idea hit him.

_I might be about to fall, but there is one last thing I have to do._ He thought to himself. He reached his free hand into his pockets, and pulled out a small phone. He pressed a button on it, and it rang only once before it was picked up.

"_How may I assist you, Master Diem?"_

"Albert, I'm going on a trip. I may be gone some time, and I might not return at all. Look after the house while I'm gone, would you?"

"_Of course, Master Diem. Will you be needing supplies for your trip?"_ Diem twisted his head round and stared into the portal. Despite the vast amount of wind blurring his eyes, he could see Luke, Sarah, and Martiah on the other side, although they seemed to be unconscious for some reason.

"No, Allbert, I don't think that will be necessary. Thank you for your years of service, Albert."

"_Not a problem, sir."_

"Goodbye Albert." Diem finally terminated the call and replaced the phone in his pocket. He calmly zipped up the pocket with the phone in it, then his grip on the roof failed, and he too fell into the portal. Its work done, the hole in space disappeared, leaving no trace it had ever been, except that the roof of the house was completely clear of gravel.

Albert would be pissed when he discovered that.


End file.
